Strong safety Duron Harmon jumped in front of an errant Mark Sanchez throw and returned it 33 yards deep into Eagles territory, igniting the Patriots early in the second half.

The rest of the third quarter resulted in 21 offensive points, which led to the 42-35 victory.

“It was a good read and great coverage by everybody else,” Harmon said. “Mark (Sanchez) did not want to go to his first read because the coverage was so good. I saw the tight end coming back across the middle and knew that he was going to go there, so I just jumped it. I don’t think he saw me.”

Harmon’s play was Sanchez’s lone incomplete pass of the game in 12 attempts.

“I saw him late and I got lazy with my eyes,” Sanchez said in the locker room. “I just missed it.”

Harmon’s play even got some good reviews from head coach Bill Belichick after the game.

“We always try to aggressively attack the ball,” Belichick said. “We’ll go back and look at it. I thought Duron (Harmon) made a good play on the ball. Look, if you get an opportunity, you have to take advantage of it.”

Harmon, who is trying to crack the starting lineup with Devin McCourty, knows he will have stiff competition the rest of the way from Patrick Chung, Ebner and Tavon Wilson.

“ (Competing) definitely brings out the best in you,” Harmon said. “If you really look at it, I’m competing with three other guys and they are all really good football players. They definitely bring out the best in you each and every day. You know if you are not on your A-game, they are going to be on their A-game and make you look bad. Competing with those guys has been fun, but at the same time they’re fun guys too. We are a close group.”

Harmon said he’s just looking forward to getting better.

“I think I did well,” he said. “I have to go back and watch the film. There is definitely stuff I can improve on. So I just got to go back and keep taking it in the right direction and getting better each and every week.”

Page 2 of 2 - Change of heart

Eagles cornerback Cary Williams intercepted Tom Brady in the first quarter and returned the pick 77 yards for a touchdown. But maybe Williams’ greatest moment in Friday’s game came after the game when he spoke one-on-one with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

“I told him that I’m sorry and I respect him as a man, a coach and a GM as well,” Williams explained. “I also respect the organization. I told him I said something out of emotion and I did not really mean that.”

Earlier this year, Williams spoke about how the New England Patriots were “cheaters” and that they haven’t won a Super Bowl since the spygate situation took center stage in 2007.

“I’ve just been playing those guys since back in the day,” Williams said. “You try to use anything to fire yourself up so in that situation I let my emotions get the best of me to a degree. I said some kind of things that I regret.”

Williams said all is forgotten now.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a new day,” he said. “We spoke about it. He told me that he has mutual respect for me and it’s two guys with respect for one another.”